work outfits – PhD in Clothes

Easy, comfortable outfits for going back to the office

Fall 2021 might be a rude awakening for many of us, if enough people get vaccinated and we are suddenly summoned back from work from home to our offices. I already have a timeline for this–August 2021–and while I will miss some parts of my home office, I am a little excited to put on office outfits again. At the same time, my tolerance for structured pants (and bras with underwire!) is incredibly low at the moment, so I thought I would put together some easy, comfortable work outfits to ease the transition back to in-person work!

5 Leopard Skirt Outfit Ideas

I have really loved my leopard midi skirt–I bought it last fall and have worn it many ways since then! At first, I only wore it with white or black t shirts, but I’ve been surprised by how versatile it is. My skirt is a slip skirt but I think these would work well with any length, including mini skirts or pencil skirts. The trick is figuring out what colors to pair with leopard and how to layer items for added interest! Here are some outfit ideas for both winter and summer!

Easy work from home outfits without leggings, part 2

Hello and welcome to the end of No Leggings January! I continued getting dressed WITHOUT my comfiest leggings and ponte pants this month and was surprised at what a difference it made in my work from home mood. Here are some outfit ideas I came up with that were winter-friendly!

Adding Jewel Tones to My Capsule Wardrobe

When I started a capsule wardrobe 8 years ago I had every color ever in my closet. As I cleaned it out and assessed what I actually liked to wear I discovered the magic of only buying stuff that is versatile and goes together. As a result, I ended up with a closet of highly mixable neutrals. Lately, however, I have really felt the need for a color boost. So here is the one colorful thing I’ve added to my closet lately, a teal silk tank top, and a bunch of ideas for mixing and matching strong colors with a neutral capsule wardrobe.

The search for reasonable clothes to work from home in: My virtual work uniform flowchart

I wrote this post in December after a solid semester of working from home every Thursday and Friday. I didn’t hit publish on it at the time, but given world events I am now getting even more familiar with my work from home wardrobe. Even better, I’ve narrowed my work-from-home getting dressed approach down to a simple decision tree. Consider this my flow chart of what to wear in the morning…

A month of realistic, comfy business casual outfits: Week 4

Welcome to the end of me documenting every outfit I wore to work! I’ve had fun challenging myself this month. The basics of what I’ve learned: if the shoe isn’t flat, I’m not wearing it, if I feel exposed, I’m not wearing it, and if the outfit doesn’t have SOME “cool factor,” I’m not wearing it. It’s been interesting to observe my own choices in business casual clothes this month. Enough rambling. Here’s what I wore!

A Month of Professor Work Outfits: Week 3

Welcome to another week of business casual professor outfits. This week we had a warm snap and I was able to go sans-tights for a few days, so I would call these spring work outfit ideas (even if it will soon be winter again!). And my neutral color choices finally got to me and I decided to consciously pick out my favorite jewel tones to wear to the office. Here are some easy women’s professor style outfits for the week!

A Month of Business Casual Work Outfits: Week 2

Welcome back to me attempting to document all my Monday-Friday outfits this month! Business casual outfits can feel so tricky. Add needing professor teaching outfits to the mix and I can’t even count the number of work outfits I’ve tried on, deemed too risky, and discarded. The problem with teaching is that it can feel pretty dang vulnerable, like your whole body is on display and you need good mobility. So this week, I decided to focus on my favorite outfits to teach in. Here we go!

A Month of Professor Work Outfits: Week 1

I really love seeing what people (actually) wear to work. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pinterest inspo, but towering stilettos and runway-ready outfits passed off as “business casual” start to grate on me–who is actually comfy enough to work a 9-5 in that?? So, this month, I’ve decided to document all of my professor work outfits. Here’s week 1 of what I wore and what I wore it for!

The search for reasonable work clothes: My absolute-most-comfortable business casual clothing (and the stuff that didn’t work out)

Do you track how often you wear clothes? I do in Cladwell and I really enjoy it. The app lets me know when I haven’t worn something in 3 months by putting a dot next to it, and it shows me my most worn items. I’ve learned a lot from tracking how many times I wear things, so today I thought I would share my greatest hits and misses from 2019. Here are my best women’s work clothing purchases of the year and what landed in the giveaway pile.